The Death of an Icon

On Thursday, August 13, Les Paul passed away at the age of 94 due to ongoing complications with pneumonia. As the inventor of the solid body electric guitar and multitrack recording, Paul basically helped bring about rock n' roll as we know today.

Since childhood, Paul found himself deeply interested in the world of music but believed that power and dynamic were somewhat unattainable with unamplified instruments. Artistically and emotionally, he recognized that a musician could only go so far with an acoustic guitar in hand. This is what brought about the creation of "The Log," a 4x4 piece of wood (which acted as a bridge and guitar neck), strung with steel strings, and attributed with a pickup. This invention gave way to the progression of the electric guitar as well as rock in general.

So how influential was Les Paul? Well, without him, the music of Gilmour, Townshend, Page, Clapton, and countless others would either be non-existant or completely unrecognizable. In short, the world of rock would have stayed a shell of itself for quite a bit longer without the likes of this iconic pioneer.